[Noozhawk’s note: The following commentary is co-authored from among the co-signers.]
A strong woman stands up for herself. A stronger woman stands up for everybody else.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey is that stronger woman.
It is no wonder that it was Lacey who was elected the first African-American and the first female top prosecutor after 162 years of the existence of the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. She is a woman of dignity, fairness and grace who performs her duties with quiet professionalism and a deep sense of personal responsibility.
As female elected district attorneys, we are a diverse group spanning California. We are mothers, sisters, partners, wives, members of the LGBTQ community, Independents, Republicans, Democrats. We live in rural areas, metropolitan areas and everywhere in between, and we are united in our pride to support Lacey in her re-election on Nov. 3.
Understanding who Lacey is reveals why she is an extraordinary woman, leader and district attorney.
Lacey was born to a woman of courage: her mother, Addie Dunn. Dunn was one of 14 children, raised in a small town in Georgia.
In the early 1950s, Dunn regularly witnessed her alcoholic father physically abuse her mother. At 17, she had enough and reported the violence. The police told her parents that it was Dunn, Lacey’s mother, who was “trouble” and needed to be sent away. On their advice, her parents sold the family cow, put Dunn on a train and sent her to California to live with relatives she barely knew.
Dunn dared to speak the truth and by doing so, she changed the course of history.
Her mother’s courage became the beacon for Lacey’s life journey as a woman and as a prosecutor: Find the strength to stand up for yourself and gather even more strength to stand up for others.
For more than 34 years, Lacey has done just that. Like her mother, she faced extraordinary obstacles: racism and inequality, both in her personal and professional life; criticism for following the facts and the law in making decisions; personal attacks and even death threats. Lacey has never wavered nor stumbled; she always puts her oath before herself.
Lacey joined the District Attorney’s Office in 1986. Within two weeks of joining, she knew she had found her calling. She understood that being a prosecutor was a noble profession that allowed her to represent the wonderful diversity of her community.
As a career prosecutor, she successfully litigated some of the most violent crimes while showing compassion to the most vulnerable of victims and their families: victims of child abuse, sexual abuse and those left behind in murder cases.
When asked why she sought out the job of top prosecutor, she simply says, “Victims of crime, of whom 80 percent are people of color who live in underserved communities, need a prosecutor’s office that cares about them.”
As an African-American woman, Lacey has often encountered racism and inequality. During her college years, when she got an “A” on a paper, a white teaching assistant sarcastically asked, “Whose paper did you copy?”
Soon after becoming the elected district attorney of the largest prosecution office in the country, Lacey boarded a plane with her security team when a flight attendant looked at her and blandly inquired, “Is she in custody?”
Her passion for the most vulnerable in her community, including people of color, is perhaps best exemplified in her 1998 prosecution of a group of white skinheads who beat an African-American homeless man to death with a tire iron.
During that trial, family showed up in support for the defendants; no one showed up for the victim. Lacey, alone, became his voice for justice. She had the courage to stand up for someone the rest of the world had forgotten.
Lacey’s passion and persistence for standing up for others did not stop in the courtroom. Her commitment to seeking justice for all and improving the lives of everyone has gained her national respect. One only needs to see her innovative work to understand why she is nationally known.
She pioneered the Los Angeles County Criminal Justice Mental Health Project, establishing alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders with mental illness. Her leadership set the example for counties across this country.
She developed de-escalation training for police officers and dispatchers in dealing with those in mental health crisis. This training gained national recognition.
She established the California District Attorneys Association’s Diversity Project, seeking to recruit ethnically and culturally diverse prosecutors into our profession.
She championed efforts to combat human trafficking, establishing a specialized human trafficking unit in 2013. As a result, she nearly tripled the number of cases charged against those who sell people — predominantly women and children — for sexual exploitation.
These are just a few examples of Lacey’s innovative programs.
There is more work to be done in the criminal justice system. Lacey has the passion, courage, experience and dedication to continue this important work.
Lacey, like her mother, has faced history and obstacles her entire life.
As a woman, she has stood up for herself. She has stood up for everybody else.
As an African-American, she has stood up for herself. She has stood up for everybody else.
As the first African-American female Los Angeles County district attorney, she has stood up for herself. She has stood up for everybody else.
As elected female district attorneys from throughout California, we support Jackie Lacey’s re-election as district attorney. We encourage the good citizens of Los Angeles County to support her as well.
Joyce Dudley, Santa Barbara County district attorney
Krishna Abrams, Solano County district attorney
Stephanie Bridgett, Shasta County district attorney
Birgit Fladager, Stanislaus County district attorney
Maggie Fleming, Humboldt County district attorney
Lori Frugoli, Marin County district attorney
Sandra Grovan, Sierra County district attorney
Allison Haley, Napa County district attorney
Candace Hooper, San Benito County district attorney
Amanda Hopper, Sutter County district attorney
Laura Krieg, Tuolumne County district attorney
Susan Krones, Lake County district attorney
Kimberly Lewis, Merced County district attorney
Katherine Micks, Del Norte County district attorney
Sally Moreno, Madera County district attorney
Nancy O’Malley, Alameda County district attorney
Jeannine Pacioni, Monterey County district attorney
Jill Ravitch, Sonoma County district attorney
Melyssah Rios, Lassen County district attorney
Anne Marie Schubert, Sacramento County district attorney
Lisa Smittcamp, Fresno County district attorney
Summer Stephan, San Diego County district attorney
Barbara Yook, Calaveras County district attorney
Cynthia Zimmer, Kern County district attorney
— Joyce Dudley is Santa Barbara County’s district attorney. The opinions expressed are her own.